Joseph Mallord William Turner

Turner left Lake Maggiore at Baveno and from here took the road north-west into the Swiss Alps towards the Simplon Pass (for a full discussion see the introduction to the sketchbook, and also the introduction to the Passage of the Simplon sketchbook, Tate, Turner Bequest CXCIV). This page contains seven distinct landscape views, all of which are likely to relate to Turner’s journey along the Simplon road.1 The schematic nature of the drawings suggests that the artist was sketching on the move and their appearance is also consistent with the jolting movement of a diligence, a public carriage used in northern Italy. The views are too rough to be conclusively identified. However, an inscription by Turner indicates that one is a view of Feriolo, a village approximately a mile and a half north-west of Baveno.

Further sketches documenting the route between Baveno and Domodossola can be found on folio 80 verso (D14299; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 79a).